You Wanted The Best... You Had It!
By: Joe Spiller

Why does everyone complain so much about KISS. We all should consider ourselves lucky. This band has been around for 3 decades. 3 freakin decades! When you think about it, alot of bands are one hit wonders. Hey maybe they had a great album or two, and then faded away. Folks we are blessed. Even though I am a huge fan of KISS, it amazes me that they made it this far. Think about it.

In the 70's they were huge megastars. Behind the makeup, they gave us a real rock show. The music added to their personalities, and created larger than life superheroes.

So the 80's roll around and it seems KISS were about to fall apart. But what did they do? They drop the makeup, and adopt to the 80's sound. First off, very few bands survive a drastic change in the music scene. Second, KISS does this without their makeup. Third, 2 original members were gone. I'm sorry, but any other band attempting this would have been slaughtered.

The 90's hit with a big thud - grunge. The heavy metal nightmare. All of the bands from the 80's dissappeared. It was the "You are not allowed to have long hair and spandex and have a record contract" time period. So KISS, who were big idols to a lot of the newer grunge bands, made a change in their music direction again. When I first heard "Revenge" I was stunned. I could not believe the direction the music had taken. I really think they were headed in the right direction with COS. I also think it shocked the diehard KISS fans, who were still stuck somewhere in the 70's.

All of this leads to my point. You wanted the original KISS back, you got it. You got the makeup, the costumes, and with that you get all of the merchandising, the egos, and the problems they had in the 70's. I think it is impossible for KISS to be the "original KISS". They (Paul and Gene) have gone through way to much change to go back to where they first started.

The Psycho Circus album was a dream for me. I think the songs had a little part of every decade in them. But alot of fans didn't like it because they thought it was going to sound like "Destroyer". KISS in the beginning was formed to do what no other band had done before. So why go back and make another album that they have already done? Believe me, we all would not have had a Reunion Tour if Gene and Paul would not have kept KISS going over the years. There would have been very little interest in a Reunion Tour.

In closing, please go home and get out every KISS album, 8-track, cassette and CD you own and listen to them again. You might find what you have been missing.

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